The New York Mets went into the offseason with the idea of revamping their roster. David Stearns said as much at the end of last year’s disappointing collapse that saw the team go from first place to missing the playoffs over the summer, saying that returning most of the roster “wasn’t the right thing to do.” He made good on that promise, letting lifelong Mets Brandon Nimmo (traded to Texas) and Pete Alonso (left in free agency to Baltimore) go, building the team in a different image.
This offseason has been, for lack of a better word, slowly. Perhaps even glacially so. Big named players like Kyle Tucker and new Met Bo Bichette took forever to sign, with both signing in the middle of January. Cody Bellinger is still available, and many of the big trade targets are still on the board. It has been a test of patience, but the vision David Stearns had when he vowed to not run the 2025 Mets back is beginning to come into place, and every position player they have signed has something in common.
And it’s not just that they’re all middle infielders by trade. Even if they are.
All three of the new Mets acquisitions to their position player group are tough, tough batters to strike out. Jorge Polanco has a career 19% strikeout rate, and had a 15.6% strikeout rate last season, which was a big reason why the switch-hitter had a big 2025 season. Marcus Semien, despite a career low 89 wRC+, barely struck out as well, as he finished 2025 with an 17.4% strikeout rate, right in line with his career 18.5% strikeout rate (he also had a very strange season all together, as he was closer to league average than not after a truly horrific April and May but that is another story for another time).
Bichette, likely to be the crown jewel of the Mets offseason, is the absolute best example of this trend. His 14.5% strikeout rate was one of the best in the league, as only 25 qualified batter struck out at a lower percentage. Even with how often he expands the zone (12th percentile chase rate) and how little he walks (6.4%), he has an 83rd percentile whiff rate—he simply makes an outrageous amount of contact.
For reference, the league average strikeout rate sat at 22.2% this past year, so all three players are significantly below that mark.
Now, the players who left the Mets were not necessarily putting up Joey Gallo strikeout numbers in Queens, but the trends were concerning. Pete Alonso and Brandon Nimmo both struck out at roughly league average rates (22.8% and 21.6% respectively), but both have some concerning trends in their profiles, specifically in their whiff rates. Nimmo has seen his whiff rate drop sharply over the last three seasons, going from 68 percentile (good) to 55 percentile (average), and Alonso go from 43rd percentile in 2023, up to 48 percentile in 2024, and plummeting to 40 percentile in 2025.
This does not seem to be a coincidence. Nimmo and Alonso seem to be players on decline, with Nimmo in an especially sharp decline that could fall off a cliff soon. While Alonso will likely be able to slug his way out of the whiffing issues, its still a profile that can be fragile, especially on such a long contract. The 2025 Mets were not striking out a ton, coming in below league average at 21.4%, but this looks like a concerted effort to change the way the offense functions—less striking out, less all or nothing profiles. The 2025 Blue Jays were an extreme example of this archetype, as they struck out a ridiculous 17.8% as a team, and it was a big reason why they were an out away from their first World Series Championship in three decades.
While not all strikeouts are bad—a strikeout is unequivocally better than a double play, for example—swings and misses were a problem that reared its head from time to time as the Mets slowly collapsed last season, and part of their offensive revamp is a different way to stress pitchers and defenses in 2026.
There were reports yesterday afternoon that Yu Darvish had announced his retirement, however Darvish came out to set the record straight. The more accurate reporting seems to be that Darvish is looking to terminate the remainder of his contract with the Padres with the intention of getting his elbow healthy before deciding whether or not he needs to retire.
Throughout the 1910s and 1920s, the Yankees swindled the Red Sox on a couple different deals, mostly famously the one for Babe Ruth, a trade that’s had its own lore for decades. The Yankees’ acquisition of Les Nunamaker from Boston a couple years prior is not remotely on the level of Ruth, just because you might not have heard of Nunamaker, while Ruth is still one of the most famous names in baseball.
However, Nunamaker was another trade the Yankees made with the Red Sox where they made out very well, and the Red Sox made out with not much. And if medical science was somehow way more advanced than it already is, today would be his 137th birthday. With that in mind, let’s look back on Mr. Nunamaker.
Name: Leslie Grant Nunamaker Born: January 25, 1889 (Malcolm, NE) Died: November 14, 1938 (Hastings, NE) Yankees Tenure: 1914-17
Nunamaker was born and raised in Nebraska, and playing semi-pro baseball there was what got him on the radar. At 20-years-old, he first caught on with the Lincoln Railsplitters of the Western League in 1909. Slotted in at catcher, his early career was often a struggle defensively. However, he apparently still impressed enough to get picked up by the Cubs, who farmed him out to the Bloomington Bloomers of the inartfully named Illinois-Indiana-Iowa League.
Despite another defensive struggle and a suspension for insubordination, Nunamaker’s talent apparently shone through enough for the then Cleveland Naps to select him in the Rule 5 Draft, although they very soon after traded his rights to the Red Sox. With Boston coming off a middle-of-the-pack finish in 1910, they took a chance on the young catcher and put him on their big-league roster for 1911.
Nunamaker spent 1911 mostly as the Red Sox backup catcher and missed some time with injury during the year. The next season, he was part of the 1912 Boston team that won the World Series, although he was again hampered by injury, and had his playing time cut into after a good season from replacement Forest Cady.
After again recieving sparse playing time in 1913 and ‘14, the Red Sox eventually sold him to the Yankees in May 1914. The Yankees’ manager at the time was Frank Chance, who had been the Cubs’ boss when Chicago originally picked Nunamaker up back in 1910. The stretch run in 1914 saw Nunamaker get regular playing time and finally have some success, especially at the plate. In his third game as a Yankee, he hit his first career MLB home run. Over the course of 87 games with the Yankees in 1914, he hit .265/.327/.350, which may not sound great, but actually grades out as an above average OBP for the era. Not to mention in one game, he achieved the rare feat of throwing out three runners in one inning.
After regressing in 1915, Nunamaker had probably his best year in 1916. He hit .296/.380/.404, which was good for a 134 OPS+. In addition, he had also come around 360 from the poor defense from early in his career. In that season, the Yankees contended much of the year and led the AL as late as July 29th, although they struggled throughout August and September and ended up double-digit games out of first.
Throughout his career, Nunamaker could also be a bit of an ornery figure. He got into numerous spats with opposing players and umpires over the years. One incident after leaving the Yankees saw him apparently tell a fan that he would “change the fan’s map as the kaiser is trying to alter the topographical face of Europe.” That line probably hit harder in the World War I era than it does now.
After one more year with the Yankees in 1917, Nunamaker was traded to the St. Louis Browns. The Yankees’ return in the deal included previous birthday boy Del Pratt. Under new manager Miller Huggins, the Yankees were trying to become a regular contender after years of ups and downs, and Pratt was a legitimate star of the time. While Pratt didn’t end up leading the Yankees to glory, he was part of a package that brought pitcher Waite Hoyt to New York, so we can include Nunamaker as part of that trade tree.
Nunamaker spent one year with the Browns and a couple with Cleveland to end his major league career. While he once again wasn’t a regular starter or anything, he was part of another World Series winning team with Cleveland in 1920. He only got two at-bats in the Fall Classic, but singled off future Hall of Famer Burleigh Grimes in Game 2. He continued to play on in the minors for several years after that, managing off and on as well. After his time in baseball was up, he returned to his native Nebraska, where he passed away in 1938.
See more of the “Yankees Birthday of the Day” series here.
The Minnesota Timberwolves are still searching for the consistency of true contenders, and they’ll try to rebound tonight against the Golden State Warriors in a matchup rescheduled after yesterday's tragic events in Minneapolis.
Minnesota enters on a four-game losing streak, but my Warriors vs Timberwolves predictions signal a change of fortunes for the hosts against a Golden State team that could be without Steph Curry.
Read on for my NBA picks ahead of this January 25 contest.
Warriors vs Timberwolves prediction
Warriors vs Timberwolves best bet: Timberwolves -5.5 (-110)
Every time the Minnesota Timberwolves seem to be gathering momentum to take a crack at the Top 4 in the West, they seem to hit a rough patch.
But some uneven results this month can’t mask the talent on this roster, which is why I’m trusting Anthony Edwards & Co. to respond tonight.
Minnesota is 15-7 at home this season — in contrast to the Golden State Warriors' ugly 8-14 mark on the road — and has covered in the past five meetings between these teams. That dominance largely stems from a playoff series in May, but the T-Wolves also landed a 127-120 victory at Chase Center in December.
This line has climbed overnight, and it surely hints that Curry will sit out today with knee soreness before these teams collide again tomorrow night.
The Warriors’ injury report also features Al Horford, De’Anthony Melton, and Jonatha Kuminga, and the visitors have lost back-to-back games since losing Jimmy Butler to a torn ACL.
Warriors vs Timberwolves same-game parlay
Julius Randle feasted against the Warriors in last year’s playoff series, averaging 25.2 ppg on 53% shooting. He was a difference-maker in Minnesota’s win over Golden State earlier this season, scoring 27 points.
I like this points prop Over, with Randle coming off a 30-point night on Thursday against the Chicago Bulls.
Whether Curry plays or not, the Warriors are going to lean on Brandin Podziemski as they try to fill the Butler void. He’s nailed this Over in three of his last four outings, and he dished 10 dimes in Dallas earlier this week.
Warriors vs Timberwolves SGP
Timberwolves -7
Julius Randle Over 22.5 points
Brandin Podziemski Over 9.5 rebounds+assists
Our "from downtown" SGP: Block party
Look for Jaden McDaniels to bring the heat defensively tonight, and he’s recorded a block in each of his last six games.
With the length to bother smaller guards, he’s averaging 1.2 blocks per game in January, and he should be a threat in this category against the Golden State backcourt.
Warriors vs Timberwolves SGP
Timberwolves -7
Julius Randle Over 22.5 points
Brandin Podziemski Over 9.5 rebounds+assists
Jaden McDaniels Over 0.5 blocks
Warriors vs Timberwolves odds
Spread: Warriors +5.5 | Timberwolves -5.5
Moneyline: Warriors +180 | Timberwolves -220
Over/Under: Over 237.5 | Under 237.5
Warriors vs Timberwolves betting trend to know
The Over is 7-3 in Golden State’s last 10 games. Find more NBA betting trends for Warriors vs. Timberwolves.
How to watch Warriors vs Timberwolves
Location
Target Center, Minneapolis, MN
Date
Sunday, January 25, 2026
Tip-off
5:30 p.m. ET
TV
ABC
Warriors vs Timberwolves latest injuries
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Bonds transferred to the Scarlet Knights last offseason after one season at Campbell. Last season, Bonds posted a .300 average and a .384 on-base percentage. In his 223 at-bats, he finished with 67 hits, 5 home runs, and 40 runs batted in.
In the brief description that Perfect Game uses to explain why each player got named to the list, they said that the Franklin, New Jersey native will be looking to back up a breakout year after hitting .300/.384/.430 with 17 XBHs & 40 RBI for Rutgers in ’25, with his MLB draft interest picking up.
Bonds comes from a line of MLB superstars. The most recognizable is his uncle, Barry Bonds, who has the most home runs in MLB history. His grandfather is Bobby Bonds, a three-time MLB All-Star. His father, Bobby Bonds II, played 11 seasons in the major leagues. Peyton himself has already attracted interest from MLB clubs and will be looking to continue the family legacy when he decides to declare for the draft.
Bonds has two more years of eligibility left and can be a huge asset to the team’s future if they can keep him around for his senior year.
The 21-year-old defenseman played 33 games with the big club last season, but when opportunities presented themselves this season, injuries got in the way.
In the Islanders' 5-0 loss to the Buffalo Sabres, George played 13:56 minutes alongside Adam Boqvist on the third pairing, keeping things simple.
He had a turnover on his first shift, but then really settled in.
"I was pleased with his game," Islanders head coach Patrick Roy said. "I thought he was playing with confidence, skating well, and breaking the puck out pretty well. I felt like he had a good game."
We spoke with George following his return:
Q: What’s it been like getting re-acclimated and being back with the group?
A: “It’s really just about getting re-acclimated. That’s the biggest thing. It was nice to be reunited with the guys up here. They’ve been great to me — last year at camp and this year too. It was all smiles when I came back. It’s great to see everyone again.”
Q: How tough was it being hurt and feeling like there were opportunities slipping away while you were sidelined?
A: “Obviously, you’d rather not be hurt. You want to be playing and playing well, so that was a tough situation. But I’m happy with the way I stuck with it and kept working. Over the last couple of weeks, things have started to go my way more, and that’s been encouraging.”
Q: How much has Rocky Thompson helped you during that stretch?
A: “He’s been great. He does a really good job putting us in positions to win games, which is super valuable. He’s also big on the details — little stick details, positioning details — and I feel like that’s definitely helped my game. Those things really matter at this level.”
Q: How did you feel about your game today and adjusting back to NHL speed?
A: "I felt good. I thought I had some moments. Obviously, you always wish you had better shifts here and there, but I felt comfortable out there. I was getting back into the groove, handling the puck well, and seeing the ice.”
George is expected to get a good look, as he could be the best answer to fill Alexander Romanov's spot in the lineup for the rest of the season.
The Islanders battle the Philadelphia Flyers on Monday at 7 PM ET, weather permitting.
Here’s your crew dropping some gems after yesterday’s affair.
"They look at Thibs as the injury. I'm here to say f*ck that…Thibs was the 1st coach who made me feel special…I used to do sh*t in games just to make sure he saw on tape…Thibs, you may have gone to Harvard, you may have done physics––but I showed you physics"
“In the NBA anything can happen. It doesn’t surprise me at all because teams are a lot more even in today’s NBA than back in the day. Teams are really good, players have gotten better, coaches have gotten better, so you have to be ready to play every single time you step on the floor.”
On OG Anunoby’s defensive impact on Saturday:
“OG obviously changed the game defensively. His quick decisions with the basketball, it was beautiful to watch. Defensively, guard Paul George, guard their power forward and then guard Joel Embiid. He was phenomenal defensively.”
On Anunoby guarding Embiid late:
“We can’t do anything like that if you don’t have a guy like OG. OG allows us to play the basketball game in a lot of different ways. So, we were able to do it.”
On the Knicks response to Towns’ never-ending foul trouble:
“We gotta just have other guys step up. We can’t control the fouls called, so if somebody is in foul trouble, hopefully the next guy can step up and play the right way to help us get a win.”
On the late-game challenge:
“I didn’t even see the play. I didn’t even hear our challenge guy say yes or no. I just know the whole bench was yelling at me to challenge. So I was ready to MF everybody if we didn’t win it.”
On Ariel Hukporti’s readiness:
“Ariel, he has been back and forth with the G-League team. He has been practicing, playing games, coming here, he kept himself ready. We throw him out there in a crucial time and he was phenomenal for us in those minutes.”
On the second-half defensive turnaround against the 76ers:
“We locked in defensively. We came back into halftime to see what we were lacking, especially myself. Defensively in the first half, I ain’t do too great. But definitely in the second half came with more energy.”
On battling Joel Embiid:
“Playing against him is always gonna be a little fight. That’s our nature, it is what it is. He’s an All-Star player so you’ve gotta come out there and fight and make some adjustments yourself.”
"We had a slump…it happened…Now we just gotta keep on climbing"
“Obviously, we want him in the game, but it’s a next man up mentality. We gotta find a way to go out there and execute our gameplan, play with pace, play good defense, play physical and get back to what we do.”
On the chaotic finish:
“Just pure chaos, but we found a way to win. That’s the best way I can describe it.”
On winning the late-game challenge after replay proved him right:
“Very. It’s very satisfying. If I’m animated like that, I’m pretty sure I’m right.”
Josh Hart: “You guys can write what you want. Three games ago, we were turning into a lottery team, and now yall are like oh, we’re battling up the East.”
“When you’re a team that’s struggling to put together wins, you got to do the little things. Good attention to detail, good focus, good energy, and get all those 50-50 balls.”
On the Knicks’ late-game execution:
“We played well, but our execution the last couple minutes… I don’t know if we deserved to win the game. I don’t know if they deserved to win either. It was just a toss-up.”
On staying level-headed after back-to-back wins:
“Yeah, it is good, but also it’s January. You can’t get too high or too low. Three games ago we were turning into a lottery team, now people say we’re battling the East. We’re just trying to stay level headed.”
OG Anunoby on Mitchell Robinson catching up to him on this list: "I think he always deserves it every night. Any night he gets it, I love that for him." https://t.co/QRasHAWvxG
“Some nights that bench scoring is going to have a huge onus on it. Other nights our first five have it going. That’s the beauty of our team. We’ve got to be adaptable and find ways to win.”
“It’s nothing that I can control. Just try to be smart, preparing, as ready as I can. I’ve never gotten traded before or been in a situation like this. I just work hard and try to stay prepared.”
On unmet expectations this season:
“It’s definitely not what I was expecting coming into the season. I thought it would be a little more different. Obviously, my role is different from last year or from the Olympics.”
As the 2026 MLB season draws near, various projections have started to come out about where the San Diego Padres will finish as a team, and some sites have gone on to predict how individual players will finish their season. These projections are a lot like weather models. There are formulas and trends that are taken into consideration and while sometimes these projections come to pass, nothing is certain. Cheri Bell of Gaslamp Ball provides an explanation of how the projections are made and what those projections look like for the Padres.
Padres News:
Padres CEO Erik Greupner announced at the celebration of life ceremony for Padres Hall of Famer Randy Jones that the 2026 team will wear a “35” patch on their uniforms to honor the late Cy Young Award winner. Current players, former teammates and fans filled Petco Park Saturday to pay their respects to Jones.
Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribunereported Saturday that Padres pitcher Yu Darvish, who will miss the 2026 season recovering from offseason surgery, was planning to retire and forfeit the remaining years and money on his contract. Since Acee filed the report, Darvish and his agent, Joe Wolfe, responded on X stating the report was not accurate and that he had not made a formal decision. Sonja Chen of MLB.com is reporting that Darvish is “leaning towards” voiding what is left of his contract, but the previous report was premature. Dennis Lin of The Athletic is reporting that the final details of a potential Darvish retirement have yet to be decided.
Anthony Castrovince of MLB.com reported he believes there are teams that can beat the Los Angeles Dodgers and he listed his top five candidates as the Mets, Atlanta Braves, Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago Cubs and Milwaukee Brewers.
Ryne Nelson not taking pitching role for granted in 2026 “I feel the exact same coming into camp this year as I did last year,” Nelson said. “I think the second you get comfortable, and you think that things are going to be easy or whatnot, you start to let what got you here slip. I’m just coming in, getting good work in, and trying to be the best version of myself. And whatever role I end up in, it’s not going to be because I didn’t work hard enough. I’m gonna do everything I can to put myself in the best position to succeed.” https://www.mlb.com/dbacks/news/ryne-nelson-discusses-d-backs-role-2026
Until it blows against something, wind makes no sound.
Ready for more did you know facts? The sounds you hear during a windy day are due to the speed of the wind coming into contact with various objects at the same time. The process of friction can also cause sounds at higher pitches depending on the speed of the wind.
Apart from Vitamin C, eggs contain every single vitamin.
It also contains high traces of protein, fat, and minerals. The egg yolk is also one of the few foods that naturally contain Vitamin D.
Gold never erodes.
This is because it is chemically inert. This means that it does not react to the oxygen found in the atmosphere.
Chris Getz chuckles through more repetition of the party line. | (Photo by Matt Dirksen/Getty Images)
“We’ve got some financial flexibility now to continue to bring in talent.”
Talk about a real knee-slapper. The White Sox GM sure knows how to tell ’em.
Chris Getz made that remark after the trade of Luis Robert, Jr. to the Mets, a move that not only forced everybody covering the team to figure out how to type the ñ in Luisangel Acuña’s name but got Robert’s $20 million salary off of the books. Most of the coverage had to do with the trade itself, of course, which is understandable, but which left little to no reporting on Getz’s little joke about financial flexibility.
That’s a sad omission, though not the only one. Both the Mets and Rangers (who had originally drafted Ronald Acuña’s little brother) had given up on him as a center fielder despite his elite speed due to a tendency to take, er, shall we say “creative” routes in the more-or-less (mostly less) general direction of fly balls coming his way.
(Forgive an aside: Acquiring a star player’s brother may be a big step better than acquiring a brother-in-law, but it’s still another giant step for Soxkind to actually get the star himself.)
Both teams settled on Luisangel as a middle infielder, a category the White Sox have in abundance, what with Colson Montgomery at short, a slew of shortstops working their way though the system (or about to be drafted?), and a big pile of utility infielders who themselves had hopes to start at second or third. Since Acuña is out of options, Chase Meidroth, Miguel Vargas, Lenyn Sosa, Curtis Mead, Bryan Ramos, etc. may not have been thrilled about the trade. (Yes, it’s probably better to have too many middle infielders than too many 1B/DH types like a few years ago, and we all have dreadful memories of Jacob Amaya, but such overstock is still not particularly useful.)
Of course, we shouldn’t forget the Sox also picked up a low-minors pitcher out of Harvard, who should be able to help the other players with their homework.
The really big deal, though, is the Getz quote. Let’s look at it again, in case you already forgot it, as apparently pretty much everybody covering the White Sox did.
“We’ve got some financial flexibility now to continue to bring in talent.”
On any other team, that might be a serious statement. On the White Sox? Not so much.
Sure, saving 20 million smackers is a big chunk, even bigger than the $17 million headed to Munetaka Murakami. It doesn’t also cover the $10 million then offered to Seranthony Dominguez to be the 2026 closer — a move that probably didn’t make Grant Taylor’s day, but toss in the savings on Josh Rojas, Aaron Civale, Martín Pérez and Mike Tauchman, and there’s plenty left over for the other offseason pick-ups.
Which gets us to why it’s all just a joke:
What financial flexibility was missing before the trade, Chris? Can you remove your lips from Jerry Reinsdorf’s butt long enough to answer that?
Different sites come up with different team payroll numbers, what with measuring at different times in different ways, but let’s go with USA Today because they used 2025 Opening Day figures adjusted for other stuff. They had the Sox at 27th — more generous than most listings — at $82,279,825.
That’s higher only than the two teams who played the season in minor league parks and the Marlins, and half the level they would have needed to reach 15th of the 30 teams (Orioles). It’s almost $120 million below 10th place, which happened to be a team that also plays in Chicago. It’s so low that the White Sox could have signed both Shohei Ohtani and Kyle Tucker and had plenty of room under the salary cap. Heck, add in Juan Soto and they’d still not be near the top.
Want to look at what’s still possible? The Athletic this week listed its top seven remaining free agents, and the money gap beween the Sox and the Top 10 would let them sign every single one, including old buddy Lucas Giolito.
Financial flexibility? The financial flexibility on the South Side is almost infinite! Or it would be, if they had real ownership instead of being run by a player-, fan- and media-hating control freak who will be leading the charge for a lockout in December, 2027 season be damned.
With de-Scrooge-ification Getz’s line wouldn’t just be a bad joke. But we all know the only thing that will make that come to pass.
A Chicago market P.S.
The White Sox, or at least Reinsdorf, love to cry poor and claim to be just the lowly second team in the No. 3 market. So be it today. But in 1981, the year MLB screwed White Sox fans by refusing a sale to Ed DeBartolo and Bill Veeck instead had to sell to Reinsdorf and the Tribune Corp. bought the Cubs, Sox attendance was almost double the Cubs — 946,651 to 565,637 — and it stayed higher until 1985, three years before Wrigley Field got lights.
It’s not just recently that Mr. Potter has poisoned everything he touches.
The San Jose Sharks recently added to their roster, as they acquired forward Kiefer Sherwood from the Vancouver Canucks. With this, the Sharks made it clear that they are willing to be buyers.
If the Sharks want to keep making moves, one area that they could look to boost is the right side of their defense. When looking at trade candidates around the NHL, the St. Louis Blues have an interesting potential option in veteran blueliner Justin Faulk.
If the Sharks landed Faulk, he would undoubtedly give their top four a nice boost. This is because he is an impactful defenseman who contributes well offensively from the point and works on both the power play and penalty kill.
Faulk would also be more than a rental for the Sharks, which adds to his appeal. This is because the right-shot defenseman is signed until the end of the 2026-27 season, where he has a $6.5 million cap hit. With this, he would benefit the Sharks for more than just the remainder of this season if acquired.
On a struggling Blues team, Faulk has been in the middle of a solid year. In 52 games so far this season, the 33-year-old blueliner has posted 11 goals, 13 assists, and 24 points. His 11 goals also have him tied for seventh among all NHL defensemen this season.
He’s Tyler Samaniego, and he has only a slightly easier name to pronounce than Jhostynxon “The Password” Garcia, whom he was traded for along with Johan Oviedo. Samaniego has not yet cracked a Major League roster, but his status as a lefty arm with a 98 mile per hour fastball on a roster of guys that are, well, not that, coupled with the fact that the Red Sox traded for him knowing they’d need to carry him on the 40-man roster, as Pittsburgh protected him from the Rule 5 draft, leads to some speculation that he’ll be cracking a Major League roster in 2026.
Is he any good?
We’re not sure yet! He has some promising aspects to his game, though. Besides that fastball, his notable extension is surely a factor in his status as a prospect. And if that’s not enough, he also has finished with fewer than one strikeout an inning in the minors just once, in 2022 (and even then he finished with 8.84 K/9). He also has a great ground ball percentage and has allowed just nine home runs since being drafted in 2021 out of South Alabama.
He’s also a lefty — one of only five lefty pitchers with relief experience on the Red Sox’s 40-man roster, and the second-youngest of those four behind Payton Tolle. And he’s the only one — aside from certain 2026 closer Aroldis Chapman — to have been used as a closer at all in 2025. It’s not entirely comforting that he hasn’t pitched higher than Double-A yet, nor that he’s battled control issues for most of his time in the minors. But maybe he’s a late bloomer.
Show me a cool highlight.
Here are some of his more impressive pitches. Samaniego has a shot of reaching 100 with that fastball at some point in his career. You can definitely see, with that three quarter arm movement, why hitters struggle to take it out of the park.
What’s he doing in his picture up there?
I got nothing in the humor department for this one. I just want to point out how cool the throwing motion looks.
What’s his role on the 2026 Red Sox?
Given the lack of lefties currently on the Red Sox, it really wouldn’t shock me to see Samaniego make a good impression in spring training against some less seasoned bats and then eventually make somewhere in the neighborhood of 20-30 appearances if he’s solid in Triple-A. Think 2023 Chris Murphy for reference. How he performs around that time could be important to the condition the team finds themselves in come late September, especially if he can eat a few more innings than anticipated. If he’s used in any higher of a capacity than that, it may signal a failure on the part of analyzing the depth on the roster, including parts that have already departed for other pastures in 2026. But Samaniego has a perfect opportunity to develop things he already does really well, keep the walks down, and emerge as a viable arm down the stretch for a playoff contender.
The Miami Heat will wrap up a five-game road trip when they face the Phoenix Suns, who are back home for the first time in two weeks.
Phoenix will be without its leading scorer, Devin Booker, and my Heat vs Suns predictions call for a big offensive performance from Dillon Brooks.
Here are my free NBA picks for this inter-conference matchup from Mortgage Matchup Center on Sunday, January 25.
Heat vs Suns prediction
Heat vs Suns best bet: Dillon Brooks Over 22.5 points (-125)
Devin Booker left Friday’s loss to the Hawks on crutches, and Jalen Green left early with a hamstring injury. Someone’s got to pick up the slack on offense, and Dillon Brooks is in a prime spot to get buckets at home.
Booker has been ruled out, and Jalen Green is questionable, which means Brooks should be in line for a big bump in offensive responsibilities against the Miami Heat tonight.
Brooks has averaged 23.9 points per game at home, and he finished with 25 points against Miami in his first matchup of the season.
The scrappy wing has scored at least 22 points in 17 games, including 11 of 15 at home. Miami has allowed the seventh-most points per game, setting up Brooks to hit the Over.
Heat vs Suns same-game parlay
Bam Adebayo has averaged 37.5 PRA across his last seven games, hitting the Over four times. Kel'el Ware is sidelined again, and Bam is set up for another bump in production. He also went for 42 PRA when he faced the Suns on January 13.
The Phoenix Suns have home-court advantage, but without Devin Booker and potentially Jalen Green, the Suns may struggle to keep up with Miami's high-scoring offense. The Heat are 26-20 against the spread overall and 13-11 on the road.
Heat vs Suns SGP
Dillon Brooks Over 22.5 points
Bam Adebayo Over 32.5 points+rebounds+assists
Heat +4
Our "from downtown" SGP: Gettin Wiggy with it
Andrew Wiggins is averaging 15.9 points this season, and he's scored 14+ in 27 of 42 games overall. He's hit the Over on this modest scoring line in six straight, and I expect him to keep that streak going on the road.
Heat vs Suns SGP
Dillon Brooks Over 22.5 points
Bam Adebayo Over 32.5 points+rebounds+assists
Heat +4
Andrew Wiggins Over 13.5 points
Heat vs Suns odds
Spread: Heat +4 | Suns -4
Moneyline: Heat +135 | Suns -160
Over/Under: Over 229 | Under 229
Heat vs Suns betting trend to know
The Miami Heat have covered the first-quarter spread in 33 of their last 45 away games (+20.45 Units / 40% ROI). Find more NBA betting trends for Heat vs. Suns.
How to watch Heat vs Suns
Location
PHX Arena, Phoenix, AZ
Date
Sunday, January 25, 2026
Tip-off
8:00 p.m. ET
TV
FDSN Sun, Arizona's Family Sports
Heat vs Suns latest injuries
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This article originally appeared on Covers.com, read the full article here
39 years ago, Major League Baseball held the final of four free-agent compensation drafts. Blue Jays picked Tom Henke from the Texas Rangers, grabbing a big piece of their future contending teams in the form of the shutdown closer.
What isn’t usually mentioned is the huge stroke of good fortune involved in them landing Henke because he was not their first pick. That instead was reliever Donnie Moore of the Atlanta Braves, and it was only because the Angels had priority over the Jays that they got Moore so the Jays had to settle for Henke. In fact, Henke was so unheralded or undesired that the Jays immediately turned around and sent him outright off the 40-man roster that same day, not to require tying up a spot on the 40-man.
The broader historical context around the Henke is interesting, so what follows is an overview of the free agent compensation draft, the 1985 compensation draft specifically, what the Jays were doing that winter, and the aftermath for the involved parties.
When free agency was negotiated in the 1976 collective agreement, it was a very different system than we’re familiar with today. Until it was abolished in the 1985 collective agreement, there was a “free agent re-entry draft” every November, in which teams drafted the rights to negotiate with free agents (who could only sign with teams drafting them in most cases).
In addition to that restriction, the owners insisted on compensation for losing a free agent, wanting a system like the one in the NFL, where teams selected a player off the other team’s roster. That system greatly discouraged pursuing other teams’ free agents and diminished player movement, and accordingly, it was a non-starter for the MLBPA. The compromise was draft pick compensation, whereby a signing team would lose its first-round pick to the former team (second-round pick if in the top half).
That did little to restrain the free agent market, and with salaries exploding, the biggest priority for owners in the next agreement was securing stronger compensation. The MLBPA was equally adamant about not having direct compensation in the form of major league players, and the stalemate resulted in the two-month strike of June/July 1981.
The compromise that ended the strike was a convoluted system for compensation in which players would be ranked statistically (by the Elias Sports Bureau), with the top 20% at a position designated Type A, and the next 10% Type B. Compensation was as follows:
Type A free agent: the signing team’s top draft pick plus a pick from a compensation pool
Type B free agent: the signing team’s top draft pick, plus a special supplemental pick at the end of the first round (what became known as sandwich picks)
Unranked free agent: the signing team’s top draft pick only
In all cases, the former team only received the other team’s draft pick if the player was drafted by at least other four teams in the re-entry draft, otherwise it was just the other element of compensation (of none in the case of an unranked player).
The compensation pool was drawn from all teams after they had protected 26 players from their organizations or 24 if they had signed a Type A free agent. Up to five teams could opt out of signing any Type A free agents for three years and having to contribute to the pool (seven teams applied, the Jays not among them; the Red Sox, Angels, Dodgers, Twins and Mariners were chosen by lot). A team losing a player got $150,000 from a central fund and was exempt from contributing to future pools.
One final point about the compensation pool relates to Henke. It is frequently said that the Jays took him from Texas with their pick because Texas had signed Cliff Johnson from them. But this was purely co-incidental; the MLBPA only begrudgingly agreed to the compensation pool in the first place because it linked signing a player to losing. In fact, it was the only time that a team signed a free agent and lost a player through the pool for that signing.
The White Sox were the only team to lose a 1981 Type A free agent (Ed Farmer) and chose catcher Joel Skinner from Pittsburgh in return. The next year, there were two, with the White Sox losing Steve Kemp and the Mariners losing Brian Bannister. The White Sox again failed to get a decent player, selecting Steve Mura from St. Louis, but Seattle was shrewder and nabbed long-time future big leaguer Danny Tartabull from Cincinnati’s system.
But it was in January 1984 that all hell broke loose with the system. After the Jays signed Type A free agent Dennis Lamp, the White Sox were again entitled to choose from the pool. The Mets had gambled and left 39-year-old Tom Seaver unprotected, given his large salary, but that did not deter the White Sox and the selection of an all-time great sent shock waves through baseball and especially New York.
A couple of weeks later, Tom Underwood signed with Baltimore and Oakland was entitled to a pick. They selected pitcher Tim Belcher from the Yankees, an uber-prospect who had just been the first overall pick in the January draft (and had not signed with Minnesota as the first overall pick of the June 1983 draft). They exploited a loophole in that he had just signed the week before the Yankees had to submit their protected list (for the White Sox pick). So, the Yankees lost a player they literally could not protect.
These two picks turned sentiment against the compensation pool—this was the result teams had endured a 50-day strike to achieve. Not surprisingly, after 1985, the compensation pool was done away, replaced by the system of compensation that endured various tweaks until 2012, when it, in turn, was replaced by the qualifying offer system.
In any event, by 1985, teams were paying a lot closer attention to their lists. Nonetheless, Atlanta opted not to protect reliever Donnie Smith, who had posted a 2.94 ERA in 1984, as he was demanding a huge raise in arbitration (and they had shelled out huge bucks for Bruce Sutter).
That was no obstacle for the Jays, desperate to upgrade the bullpen to challenge Detroit in the AL East and their back end of Willie Hernandez, Aurelio Lopez and Doug Bair. In December, they had moved Dave Collins and Alfredo Griffin for Bill Caudill to be their closer, despite him being in line for over a million dollars in arbitration.
But they were not the only team drafting. In the 1984 off-season, five free agents rated Type A. Rick Thornton (Cubs) and Andre Thornton (Cleveland) re-signed. Bruce Sutter (Cardinals) and Fred Lynn (Angels) were bona fide stars, so it was no surprise they ranked as Type A. Cliff Johnson was a 37-year-old platoon DH with just 899 PA the previous two years, but that platooning had made him very productive (137 wRC+), and he qualified as Type A.
Being a DH limited Johnson’s market, and in fact, only three other teams drafted his negotiating rights (Orioles, Rangers, White Sox), and the Jays retained them. That meant the Jays were not eligible to receive a first-round pick from the signing team, just the pick from the pool. The Jays wanted Johnson back but balked at going beyond one year guaranteed. When Texas ponied up two years and more money ($1.5 million guaranteed vs. $600,000) as well as the opportunity to play every day, he was gone.
The precise procedure of the compensation draft actually wasn’t a draft in terms of being sequential picks. The 17 teams contributing to the pool submitted their protection lists by January 16th, the three selecting weeks had a week to review them, and then all three teams simultaneously submitted the names they wanted.
If multiple teams took the same player, priority was determined by how teams had drafted the free agent they had lost. Thus, St. Louis (six teams drafted by Sutter) had priority over California (Lynn by five) over Toronto (Johnson by three). In terms of Moore, the Cardinals were not an issue, choosing minor league shortstop Angel Salazar from the Expos (according to their GM, the 27th player they would have protected).
But California also selected Moore and thus was awarded him, leaving the Jays to pivot to Henke. This was viewed as a surprising pick, even skeptically in the media, given the number of veterans available and Henke’s modest 4.20 ERA in 60 career innings. But that didn’t matter to Gillick, telling Allan Ryan of the Toronto Star, “You’re looking at the stats, that’s all you’re looking at,” and the Globe and Mail, “We scout tools. We don’t scout statistics…we were shocked he was available.”
Those tools? “He’s got an outstanding arm, a good live fastball,” Gillick told Ryan, and he was certainly proved right.
Two days after getting Henke, the Jays went out and added another veteran arm to the bullpen to complement Caudill, acquiring Gary Lavelle from San Francisco and extending his contract. Perhaps had they got Moore, they wouldn’t have done that. Caudill and Lavelle produced decent results in 1985 but were expensive flops thereafter. Meanwhile, Henke emerged midway through 1985 and seized the closer role. Of the three relief acquisitions, it was the least heralded and costly and the biggest factor in 1985 and the long run.
For his part, Moore wasn’t exactly a pumpkin either. He posted a 1.92 ERA in 103 innings in 1985 and was very good in 1986 before giving up a crucial home run to Dave Henderson in the ALCS. He battled injuries thereafter and declined and committed suicide in July 1989 after shooting his wife three times following an argument.
As for Cliff Johnson, he would find his way back to Toronto in short order. After the likes of Willie Aikens, Len Matsuzek, and Jeff Burroughs failed to plug the DH hole in August, despite Johnson’s production tailing off in Texas from 1983-84, the Jays decided his new contract was not too bloated after all and re-acquired him to bolster the “Drive for ‘85” stretch run. Alas, he hit just .274/.349/.315. In 1986 he hit .250/.355/.426.
The Mets signed veteran reliever Craig Kimbrel to a minor league deal with an invite to big league spring training.
For his Mets Beat newsletter, Anthony DiComo of MLB.com wrote about how patience paid off for the Mets this offseason.
Mike Petriello of MLB.com took a deep dive into whether the Mets have improved defensively and characterized himself as “cautiously optimistic” that the Mets achieved their goal of improving their run prevention.
The Mets’ offseason was full of star-studded moves that look good on paper, but for franchise that once assembled “The Worst Team Money Could Buy,” history is working against them, writes Joel Sherman of the New York Post.
David Stearns has now made a roster that is entirely his own and it will have to win to prove the merits of his philosophy and approach, writes Mike Lupica of the New York Daily News.
Around the National League East
The Braves signed utility man Luke Williams to a minor league contract.
